a love of all things vintage and homemade

So, the first February square. I chose a silvery grey colour to reflect the colour of the sky and the effect this weather is having on my mood generally. Oh how I long for sunshine!

I’ve joined together the squares from January, using a flat braid join. It’s the first time I’ve used this particular joining method, and I really like it.

I think it looks quite effective, although it took me a while to decide between cream or a dark blue/black colour for joining. I think this was the right choice though.

The stripy blanket is coming on, but I’m also now trying to crochet an amigurumi man – it’s fun and I’m enjoying it so far. And I’ve got one or two WIPs to finish, and hopefully that will happen during the Ravellenic Winter Games, but we’ll see…

Like this:

So here we are at the end of January already, and 5 squares completed, one for every Wednesday of the month. The fifth square had to be a dark colour, as the mood has definitely been dark, lots of ‘things’ to deal with. But not entirely laden with doom, so I chose more of a jewelled shade to reflect the sense of promise I still feel. I’m always more of a glass half-full girl really.

It struck me today how moods can change so many times within a day, never mind a week. The idea of making a square to reflect the whole week is therefore slightly unrealistic – every square would need to be multi-coloured, with stitches missing, knots, mistakes and all. So my squares instead will give more of a general impression, rather than a detailed explanation of the past week.

This week has been, all in all, fairly cheery. My step-daughter and her little girl returned from their travels just in time for us all to celebrate the little one’s fifth birthday. We all got together for a meal, and cake, of course, and a chorus or two of ‘Happy Birthday’. Family, singing, presents and cake – very cheery indeed!

So, on Wednesday I sat down, looked in my box, and found a lovely cheery pink shade of yarn called Pomegranate. Even the name makes me smile! And here it is…

Had I chosen to wait and make the square in the evening, it would have been a very different colour, as some news I received from my son’s college about his exams made me extremely angry, in fact probably too angry even to crochet. I’m glad I had made it in the afternoon!

I’ve also been fairly distracted recently with socks once again, of all sizes. I’m currently making two pairs, different sizes, for two little girls. Almost finished now, and then it will be socks for the boys. I really like the Regia sock yarn I’m using – that added to the cheeriness of the week too!

The stripy blanket has, in the meantime, been on hold. But I’m hoping to get back to it soon…

Well, the third Wednesday of January already, and so the third square of the mood blanket. On this Wednesday I ventured out, took a little stroll, and saw the beginnings, the very first signs of spring, or that’s how it felt to me . Of course, we are still having a lot of rain, and high winds, but there some beautiful and bright moments in between.

It made me feel hopeful 🙂 So I chose a soft pink colour for this square, for Wednesday 15 January.

Like this:

It’s a new life? Well, not quite, but it is a New Year which is like a new life in a way. It brings a fresh start, full of inspiration and new ideas, new projects beginning, and all sorts of good things happening. In the online communities of knitters and crocheters, many new KALs/CALs are springing up, all so tempting that you might find yourself joining in with more than you can handle! So I’m trying not to overstretch myself and, for now (which may only mean this week in truth), I’ve contemplated and considered and finally decided on these…

First, in our crochet group, ‘Stitch Along With Us’, on Facebook, there was an idea to have an afghan CAL in January – no specific pattern, leaving everyone free to choose. I had wanted to start this particular blanket for some time – the not your average crochet as-we-go stripey blanket – and this seemed the perfect time to begin! And this afternoon I’m starting row 29. I’m really pleased with how it’s going so far 🙂

The second project is another CAL, this time in another Facebook group ‘Crochet Mood Blanket 2014’. The idea is to crochet a square every day, or in my case every week, which reflects your mood. Fab idea, I thought, and one square a week is definitely ‘doable’. I did try ‘a square a day’ towards the end of last year but I did not prove to be equal to that task! On the plus side I do now have a reasonable pile of granny squares should I decide to revive that particular project! However, I digress… The mood blanket will be a lot of fun, I think, and I’ve decided to crochet one square for every Wednesday in 2014. That’s 53 squares, so I may have to add in a few extras – special occasion squares maybe – to complete a regular blanket!

The first Wednesday of 2014 was, of course, New Years Day, and so my square is made in a fizzy, sherbety yellow as that is just the sort of day it was 🙂

And so we begin. And there are still a number of WIPs that we won’t mention for now – they’ll be finished eventually!